Sunday, July 26, 2009

Since I was lucky and actually got my catalina for buying the AMP energy drinks last Kroger trip, I decided to go back and pick it up. I also had some more Sobe and Vitamin Water coupons to use up, and since I get them free plus $5 off, the time was now! :) Cooper loves riding in the carts with the racecar on the front, so Kroger is currently my favorite place to shop when I have him. :) He likes to sit back and prop his feet up on the steering wheel. It's cute and he likes it, so it's all good. Here's what I got after I picked up my gift card:

**6 Sobe Life Waters $0.99 each. Used 6 $0.50 off coupons, which doubled to make them free. In addition, I got an additional $0.50 off my order for each one because of the Mega Sale (Buy 10 items, get $5 off). So that put me at -$3.00.**3 Vitamin Waters $1 each. Minus 3 $0.50 off coupons, doubled. Same deal--That made another $1.50 off.**1 Softsoap hand soap. I think these were $1.50, but I had a $1 off coupon and then the additional $0.50 came off, so it made it free. (I ran out of all my drink coupons, so this was my 10th item backup.)**3 boxes of Weight Watchers frozen treats. Yum. These are regularly over $4--more like $4.50 or $4.99, but they were on sale for 2/$6 and I needed something in the house to snack on. Total $9, minus 1 $0.55 off coupon, doubled. $8.00. (I think the sign said these are on sale til 8/16 or soemthing like that!! I need to get more of those $0.55 off coupons!! For sure.)**2 half gallons of Vitamin D milk. $0.79 each! $1.58 total.

After the $5 came off, I owed $5.49, I think. Used my gift card from the AMP deal! Still have about $4.50 for next trip. So if I hadn't gotten anything but the WW icecream and the milk, it was a good deal. If I didn't have such a sweet tooth, it would have been better. :)

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Well, I was really reluctant to try it for some reason. Maybe because we don't even drink it... But also the coupons I wanted to use have the words "CVS" on them, although they were manufacturer's coupons. THANKFULLY, I asked the cashier before checking out if I was able to use them, explaining they were manufacturer coupons, not CVS coupons. She was very nice and said "As long as they scan, I'll take them." SO YAY!! I was pumped. You never know what kind of cashier you'll get--reasonable/friendly or mean/irrational. I like the 1st set the best. :)

So, here's what I got:

5 Sobe Life Waters $0.99, minus 5 $0.50 coupon, doubled. Free, plus an additiona $0.50 off my order for the "Buy 10, get $5 off" deal. So a total of minus $2.50 for those 5 Sobes.5 Vitamin waters $1.00, minus 4 (she missed one, but I appreciated her kindness and let it go) $0.50 coupons, doubled. Paid $1 for 5, plus got $2.50 off with the deal.10 AMP energy drinks $1.69, minus 6 $0.40 off coupons, doubled. Minus $5 off for buying 10. $7.10 total for all 10.2 bags of Dole lettuce. $0.98 each, minus $1.50/2 coupon. $0.46.4-5 pounds of cherries. Yum. $0.99 a pound. Total about $4.50.

Total around $8.00 plus tax. Paid $9.03? I think. Receive a catalina for a $10 gift card for buying the AMP drinks!! yay! I was also worried about doing this deal and then not getting the catalina. I hate when that happens. But it did, no problem.

All the drinks, didn't really need. My husband will drink the Sobe and Vitamin waters, though. Needed the salad and love the cherries, so I thought it was worth it. I was going to try and get my total lower, but I love cherries and you can't beat $0.99 a pound! I've paid up to $3.49 a pound for them past years (sadly).

Monday, July 20, 2009

I hit up Kroger today during "naptime." And when I say "naptime" it's not just my son. My hubby always encourages me to go run some errands during naptime. Why? So he can join in on the nap!! :) Yes, there's more productive things he could be doing, but I get out of the house, so I don't complain. Usually, at least.

Anyhoo, I went to Kroger. I had an evnelope full of coupons to use for the Mega Sale--"Buy 10 participating items, get $5 off your order." I had some coupons I printed at my house and last night I was able to print some off at my parents house, so I was set. I did pretty good. I chickened out on doing the Amp energy drink deal. I may change my mind, but 1) we don't drink them and 2) the only coupons I have for them say CVS on them. They are manufacturer's coupons, but sometimes I get a lot of slack because they say CVS on them and I hate fighting with them about it. Ugg. We'll see, if I get the gumption to "just do it." I also have several Vitamin Water and Sobe Life Water coupons from CVS that would make them free, but again, is the hassle worth it. Kind of. Especially, cause I'd like the gift card.

I had $5 taken off my order for buying the 10 participating items (everything but the flatbread and trashbags were participating items.)

Total before tax: $1.64Tax: $1.45Gramd Total: $3.09

Items I really needed: Dog food, trashbags. Totally worth the $3, even though I didn't need the deodorant at all. Sometimes, in crazy coupon lady land, you buy things you don't need, to get the other things for free. :) But if you are reading this, you probably know that.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Last month we decided to switch to Verizon wireless. Many of our friends and family have Verizon, so we made the switch. We were happy to find a plan that cost about the same as our old T-Mobile bill and I thought we were all set. When the bill came, instead of $60, it was $140!!! What??? I was so mad. After talking to several representatives, with no help, then contacting them through their website, they are basically saying "We're really sorry that no one told you about the fees, BUT we can't do anything abou it." You know, sorry just isn't good enough. I would understand if there were start up fees, BUT as the consumer, I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IT UP FRONT!!!! There's no excuse these days for hidden fees from a company as big as Verizon Wireless.

So I let them know that I would make sure to spread the word about the horrible customer service and total lack of communication with their new clients. Ugg. I'm so mad. We were with T-Mobile for 7 years and never had this kind of problem. They were even extra willing to delete charges that we received once because of a miscommunication. Change isn't always good, I guess. Arrrrr.

I wasn't quite sure about the Rite Aid Huggies deal, but I think I did alright. Last week, I had a baby shower to go to and I wanted to get a pack of Pampers Swaddlers (awww) for the mommy-to-be & baby, cause I love them--they are so soft. I had a $5/$25 purchase coupon, so I went ahead and bought a Mega pack of Huggies @ $17.99. I came to realize they would be on sale for $14.99 this week (ugg) but I had two gift cards that still had money on them, so I ended up only paying $6.64 for both packs of diapers. Plus I will get $2 each back from Single Check rebates and the $17.99 went towards the "Buy $50 of Kimberly Clark products, get a $25 gift card."

So today was the last day to get more Mega packs for $14.99, so we went in and it went very smoothly. I got:

**2 Mega packs of size 5 Huggies, $14.99 each. Plus I had a $3 off coupon and a $1.50 off coupon to use! :) **2 boxes of 200 count Kleenex. On sale BOGO. $2.49 total, plus a $0.50/2 coupon.

I used another $5 off a $25 order coupon, plus my other coupons and got my total down to $24.74 after tax and everything.

So in total I spent $31.38 for 3 mega packs of Huggies for me, 1 baby shower gift pack of Pampers and 2 large boxes of Kleenex. PLUS I will receive $4 in rebates and a $25 gift card.

$31.38, Plus $29 BACK! is a pretty great deal! I only come out about $2 in the hole for all those diapers! Yay! I'm glad I went ahead and did it. Hopefully there will be more great diaper deals in the future and I can stretch out my $25 gift card for awhile. :)

Ok, hope that made sense. It's late and I'm tired, but I wanted to jot my thoughts down. Happy Shopping!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Oh my. I haven't posted my deals in a month! I can't believe that. I do believe it, cause I keep thinking about it, but I just haven't gotten around to it. We had birthday party planning and celebrating going on, so that took some of my time up. We were out of town last weekend, so that was fun. But here I am and I'm going to at least share in words my most recent deal at CVS.

I received a $10 off a $50 purchase out of the coupon machine, so I NEEDED :) to use it. I could have done a little more with it, but I had a $2 off Huggies coupon, plus a $1.50 manufacturer's coupon, and they were on sale, so I encorporated a pack of diapers into my deal. Here's what I got:

**3 Kodak Photo books $7.99 each, no coupons. Received $7.99 each back in ECBs.**3 Tylenol Muscle Ache. $3.99. Paid $3.99, got back $3 ECBs each. (My printer has been acting up, so I wasn't able to print off the $1 off coupons. :( Sad. But it's up and running again.)**2 packs of Kotex products 2/$6, used 2 $1.50 coupons. Paid $3, got back 2 ECBs.**1 bar of Ambi soap. $1.99, used $2 off CRT for any Ambi product. Free.**1 pack of Huggies. $8.99. Used $2 off CRT, $1.50 off coupon. $5.49.**1 Honey Nut Cheerios cup $1.00, used $1 off coupon. Free.**a couple snack fillers to bring up my total (I had a $20 ECB and a $15.98 ECB, so I had to add a couple things to get it up that high.)

Used my $10/$50 coupons, plus other coupons. Paid with my $35.98 in ECBs and some change (I think $0.71 off my gift card--that's still going after almost 7 months of use!!) Received about $35 in ECBs back!!! A loss of $1 ECB, but a gain of a pack of diapers! Good trade off. :)

Plus 3 Photo books that are AWESOME gifts!! I'm so glad the limit was 5 and not just 1. I got really lucky when making these, cause the cashier was giving me a little bit of a hard time saying "limit 1 per household." And I told her that I had previously gotten 2 and my limit wasn't reached. I told her about the cardboard sign that people had seen that says Limit 5. She reached over to the photo counter, picked up the exact sign I was talking about and it said Limit 5! That was a relief, cause I hate when they treat you like you are being bad. :P

Well, that's it for now. I will try and be better about my deals. I think I'm going to do the Rite Aid "Buy $50 of Kimberly Clark stuff, get a $25 gift card." It seems like a good deal, if I can work it out. Happy Shopping!